Shelter

I have to say, no one can be easily categorized. I have friends receiving across the many organized pulpits.

Some have jumped from one faith to another, and even to another from there.

Some have left the land of faith.

Some have traded faith for science, and now they are flagellating the world with science.

Some have left science, for faith.

Some have taken up country, confused that maybe that is their faith, and there’s not much worse than being choked and smothered by your own flag.

And some have integrated it all.

What I observe, from the outside, is that when you sit down with someone, inside the shelter of his or her belief system, they are as balanced and gentle as a woodland creature. When you introduce doubt into the discussion, it’s a little like that scene from Bambi, before the forest fire. If you keep going, you’ll walk into the fire, and sometimes everyone comes out the other side with new seeds and more light.

Sometimes there’s yelling, crying and facebook blocking.

The fighting is a problem, and here’s the other thing–each faith believes it has the rights to protecting people. Each faith feels it has the right and best shelter, and each faith is willing to fight with you about that, sometimes even to death–under the guise of protection.

Maybe, humans are just a bit too self-righteous to be truly righteous. Maybe we can work on the art of the pause, which comes right before the act of listening. Maybe we could stop making it about ourselves. And maybe…it could be a little less about the accumulation and aggrandizement of our wealth, whether that be spiritual or worldly.